This invention relates to a method of knitting a tubular knitting fabric whose front side knitting fabric and rear side knitting fabric are knitted together at their side edges by using a flat knitting machine having at least a pair of spaced apart, opposite, front and rear needle beds. Specifically, this invention relates to a method of knitting a knit-in jacquard of a double-jersey weave, such as a tubular jacquard and a rib jacquard, in which courses of knitted loops are knitted with the needles of the front and rear needle beds, in the form of a tubular body.
Recently, attention has been attracted to a method of knitting bodies and sleeves into a tubular form with a flat knitting machine and knitting the bodies and sleeves together during the knitting to thereby produce a sweater in a substantially finished product when the knitted fabric is removed from the knitting machine. This method is advantageous in that with front sides of the sleeves and a front side of the body of the sweater retained in the front needle bed and rear sides thereof retained in the rear needle bed, a substantially tubular formed knitting fabric whose front and rear sides are knitted together at their side edges can be knitted. This method requires no sewing process or requires only a slight sewing process, if any, thus providing an advantage that troublesome work is reduced. Further, since this method provides no sewn portion, it has an advantage that elasticity, the characteristic of the knit, is not impaired. This manufacturing system is applicable not only to sweaters but also to various kinds of knitted clothing which are generally called non-sewn knit. This method is disclosed by Japanese Patent Publication No. Hei 4(1992)-15301 and Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publications No. Hei 4(1992)-153346 and No. Hei 8(1996)-113853. These publications disclose the weave of the knitting fabric of the tubular body mainly composed of a plain weave, and as the weave of the knitting fabric used therein, a pattern of the weave such as a cable stitch and a links-and-links pattern was of general interest. In addition, Japanese Patent Application No. Hei 8(1996)-150565 which is now pending discloses that the subject matter is a method of knitting a tubular body of an intersia pattern.
Japanese Patent Publication No. Hei 7(1995)-238445 discloses a method of knitting a knit-in jacquard into a tubular body, which relates to the subject matter of the invention. However, the knit-in jacquard disclosed therein is what is called a plain stitch jacquard. With the plain stitch jacquard, the knitting fabric at a side thereof for the jacquard to be knitted in is composed of a single-jersey weave which is woven with needles in either of the front or rear needle bed. Thus, this prior art document is totally silent with respect to the double-jersey weave.
The knit-in jacquard stitch, which is often used when a pattern is rendered a knitting fabric design, is knitted using a plurality of knitting yarns of different colors. The knit-in jacquard stitch generally include the rib jacquard, the tubular jacquard and the like, in addition to the plain stitch jacquard. However, it is only Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 7(1995)-238445 which discloses the method of knitting-a knit-in jacquard into a tubular body. The method of knitting a knit-in jacquard fabric of a double-jersey weave, such as a tubular jacquard and a rib jacquard, into a tubular body with needles from both the front and rear needle beds has been unknown. On the contrary, it has been considered impossible to form such a knitting with the flat knitting machine so far.
In the light of the problems mentioned above, this invention is made. The object of the invention is to provide a method of knitting a tubular jacquard or a rib jacquard in the form of a tubular body with a flat knitting machine.